Jewish Dictionary

Author: Zhou Xiefan (Editor)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-06-01
Features:
1. This book includes 1,300 entries on Judaism. It covers ten major categories: general discussions on Judaism, sects, organizations, institutions, figures, canonical texts and terminology, historical events, biblical figures and vocabulary, doctrines, thoughts, laws, and other aspects, as well as religious systems, clergy, titles, sacrifices, rituals, festivals, synagogues, sacred sites, etc.
2. The main text is organized by category, with polysemous entries explained under subheadings marked by ①, ②, ③, ④, etc. The asterisk () in the explanations indicates that the following term has a dedicated entry for reference.
3. Regarding historical dates, the old calendar is generally used before the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, with the Common Era (CE) dates interspersed; after 1911, the Common Era (CE) calendar is used. When using the Common Era (CE) dates, the term "CE" is usually omitted; the Common Era (CE) dates in parentheses generally omit the word "year."
4. Translations follow common usage. For some transliterations that may vary but are still in use today, the principle of "consensus" is applied. Foreign names, places, sects, organizations, institutions, canonical texts, synagogues, and nouns are generally annotated with the original language in parentheses, with Hebrew, Arabic, etc., transliterated into Latin characters. Foreign names, places, and nouns that appear in the explanations but are not included as separate entries are annotated with the original language as needed.
5. Appendices at the end of the book include a brief table of titles of the Jewish Bible, a study of the names of God in Judaism, a chronology of major events in Judaism, and other reference materials, as well as a stroke index for entries for easy lookup.